All Souls' Day: Inspection identifies more than 50 cases of child labor in cemeteries in Acre

Action against child labor identified more than 50 children and teenagers working in cemeteries in Rio Branco this Monday (2).

Municipal Department of Social Assistance carried out 53 approaches to the São João Batista and Jardim da Saudade cemeteries. They cleaned graves and sold candles.

City Hall plans to monitor families and check the social conditions of minors. Cases of rights violations will be referred to the social assistance network.

IBGE data indicate that Brazil registered around 1.5 million children in child labor in 2025. In Acre, there are approximately 5.6 thousand.

An action to combat child labor identified more than 50 situations involving children and adolescents working in Rio Branco cemeteries this Monday (2), All Souls' Day. During the mobilization, minors were cleaning graves and selling candles and flowers.

The information was confirmed by the Municipal Secretariat of Social Assistance and Human Rights (Sasdh). The incidents occurred in the São João Batista cemeteries, in the Dom Giocondo neighborhood, and Jardim da Saudade, in the Tancredo Neves neighborhood. The majority of cases were observed in Jardim da Saudade.

According to Sasdh, in total, 53 social approaches were made by the team, who also spoke to children and adolescents accompanied by their parents or guardians.

To g1, the director of Social Assistance at Sasdh, Ivan Ferreira, highlighted that the inspection teams filled out identification forms with data on minors and guardians and advised parents that these children should go home. Guidance on children's rights was also provided.

The secretariat intends to monitor families and check the social conditions of minors. "We identify some situations of children working in these places and we carry out this guidance work. Firstly, we check whether the person receives any social benefits and whether they are at school", he explained.

Still according to Sasdh, teenagers did work to earn money informally. "It is continuous monitoring and if we identify any violation of rights, we will forward it to the Specialized Reference Center for Social Assistance (Creas)", said Ivan.

As of Monday afternoon (2), Sasdh still did not have an overview of the number of incidents per cemetery and the age of the minors. Based on the identifications, the teams refer the families for monitoring at the Social Assistance Reference Centers (CRAS).

The secretariat also informed that the assistance network offers courses, referrals and access to social protection services to meet the needs of families in vulnerable situations.

Child labor in Brazil

Data released by the Municipal Department of Social Assistance, based on surveys by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE), indicate that approximately 1.5 million children and adolescents between 5 and 17 years old were in child labor in Brazil in 2025.

The number corresponds to around 4% of the population in this age group. Of this total, approximately 525 thousand were subjected to the worst forms of child labor, which involve dangerous, unhealthy or development-damaging activities.

In the North Region, around 249 thousand children and adolescents were in this condition, equivalent to 6.3% of the population between 5 and 17 years old. In Acre, surveys cited by Sasdh indicate approximately 5,600 children and adolescents affected by the problem.

The city hall reported that actions to prevent and combat child labor are intensified during periods of major events and commemorative dates, when the movement of people and opportunities for informal activities increase.